Ryder was born in May 2013 with a midwife who was also a naturopathic doctor.

In May of 2014, while his mother (Teddy) was nursing him she noticed a lump on Ryder’s back next to his spine. It was not large, but it was there. We immediately made an appointment to see his pediatrician.

Individual concerns we’d had about Ryder’s development, combined with the lump, started adding up to a growing concern this be something more serious. Ryder was turning one year old that month and was nowhere near being able to crawl much less turn over. And he had stopped growing at around six months of age. After being born above the 90th percentile in both height and weight, he had dropped down to the 25th.

Ryder could not handle any solid food and would gag whenever we tried to feed him anything. His right foot was almost non-responsive to touch and tickling compared to his left. Being first time parents, these concerns had always been explained away to us as “they all develop at their own pace.”

We knew something just wasn’t right and kept pressing for answers.

Teddy had been scouring the internet at this point and came upon “neuroblastoma,” a childhood cancer of the nervous system, and was pretty well convinced this was what we were dealing with.

The doctors were still assuring us it wasn’t cancer but finally granted an ultrasound which immediately led to an MRI. When the doctor and nurse came into our waiting room to share the results, the tears in their eyes told us all we needed to know. The lump in Ryder’s back was “just the tip of the iceberg” as they put it. The cancer was indeed neuroblastoma.

Ryder had a tumor larger than his kidney growing inside and out of his spinal canal, plus two secondary tumors, all of which had metastasized into his bones.

It was also discovered that Ryder had been born with a double aortic arch. Although not life threatening, it would require heart surgery to correct and explained why he was having such a hard time swallowing solid foods.

The heart surgery on its own would have been scary enough but we barely even acknowledged it. All we could hear were the words “Your son has cancer and it’s Stage four”.

All of a sudden, the same doctors who had been telling us that everything was fine now couldn’t get him admitted to the hospital and into treatment fast enough. We consented to a round of chemotherapy, but not before he was good and nutrified.

We noticed that when kids got really sick from treatment they were given feeding tubes to make it easier to get food into them. We wanted one before Ryder got sick in the first place.

This was actually a considerable argument with the hospital (one of many along the way) because it just “wasn’t the way they did things,” but we finally got it and pumped as much nutrition and supplementation we’d found to be protective of his body as we could into him before the infusion.

It was made clear to us shortly thereafter that not continuing with conventional treatment would not even be an option.

So we pivoted to a full on integrative approach, doing everything we could to both mitigate the damage done by chemotherapy and help Ryder to heal as quickly as possible.

We found a naturopathic oncologist (who turned out to be one of the foremost in the world) with an office near the hospital and went in between conventional appointments to consult with him and get Ryder intravenous supplement infusions.

The cabinet in our hospital room soon had a large arsenal of supplements which we gave Ryder ourselves through the NG feeding tube we requested. The nurses were blown away when we showed up with a juicer and let them know we would not be needing any of the hospital food for Ryder or ourselves.

At home, it started looking more and more like a full blown alternative cancer clinic with all the devices we were obtaining. We were a young family and didn’t have a lot of savings at that point but what we had we did not hesitate to spend it all, and then some, on what we thought was best for Ryder.

As a result, all of the tumors shrunk faster than anyone expected.

We were able to avoid virtually all other conventional medicines and procedures that usually come with chemotherapy, and his overall appearance and energy levels were much more vibrant than the other kids in the oncology ward.

Relations with the hospital did not improve, however. Everything our research and common sense said would be best for Ryder was met with resistance. We hardly ever saw the same doctor twice. Answers on how much treatment would be enough were vague and evasive. So, we moved.

In children’s oncology finding a new doctor isn’t quite the same as there is typically only one hospital per state, or even multiple states, that sees children for cancer. So finding a new doctor meant moving to a new state, and that’s what we did.

In our new home in Utah Ryder completed a fourth round of chemotherapy, which marked the halfway point through what the standard beginning protocol would be for that diagnosis.

At that point the secondary tumors were gone, there was no more metastasis, and the primary tumor was a small fraction of what it was to start.

Ryder was so far along that our new team was agreeable to a “wait and see” approach, and we discontinued conventional treatment.

We continued all natural and alternative approaches aggressively from there, juicing, giving supplements and energy medicine religiously along with finding a new naturopathic oncologist to resume intravenous infusions.

The primary tumor continued to shrink. Ryder’s heath and progress continued to go in the right direction and we diligently kept up with everything we were doing for him.

In June of 2018 Ryder went in for what we considered at that point a routine MRI in order to check on the remaining mass in his spine that was presumed dead for all intents and purposes. Except it wasn’t. The MRI showed new growth.

Further testing indicated that this was due to mature, benign (as opposed to immature, malignant) cells still present in the mass.

Fortunately the growth was on a portion outside of his spinal canal. But if it were to get too much larger this would still present a danger and likely require a surgery we wish to avoid at all costs.

We doubled down on everything we were doing and incorporated new practices as well, and at the next scan in October 2018, the mass was completely unchanged, and has been ever since.

Although we wish it wasn’t there at all, and his doctors and testing all agree it’s just scar tissue at this point, we like to think it remains to keep us on our toes, to live the healthiest lifestyle possible, and be lifelong students of healing.

We continue to employ a mix of super nutrition, targeted supplementation, energy medicine and healthy lifestyle practices to make sure Ryder thrives in health for the rest of his life.

Old Link: https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/cancer-survivor-story-ryder-sternagel/